Rolling Stock

 June 2010, Chicago, Illinois (Canon 40D / 17-40mm f4.0 L / 1/250 @ f4)

Not much bicyling-relating posting of late. I don't even have a decent excuse, as it has been an unusually mild winter this year. Will have to shake the dust off of my bone shakers and get back on the bike soon.

Ride Report: 2011 MS Tour de Farms

Day 1, Rest Stop #3 (came back through twice more - once for the 100-mile loop, once for the 125-mile loop)
Panasonic Lumix GF1 20mm f1.7 (all other photos taken with iPhone 3Gs)

The weekend before last I participated in the Multiple Sclerosis Society's "MS Tour de Farms" bicycle charity ride.  It is a two-day ride that is held annually in DeKalb, Illinois, which is about 70 miles west of Chicago.  This was the first year that I did the MS ride, but it probably won't be the last.  Near perfect weather was just the cherry on top of a really fun, well-supported event.

Cool Bicycle-Related Animation

The Cyclotrope from tim Wheatley on Vimeo.


Obviously, this space has been very quiet in the past few months.  Work has been crazy, I've been doing very little photography-wise and I've only recently gotten back to bicycling to work regularly after the bout of deep-winter snowstorms.  (Aside: "thundersnow" is some crazy s%#t!)  Saw this though, and had to pass it along.  Really fun and impressive.

Hope to get back to the blog soon, but I make no promises.  Mostly what I've been wanting to do lately is just curl up with a good book or play with the dog.  I love Chicago, but the winters out here can get pretty tedious.  We are up into the 60s today, though, so hopefully real Spring is right around the corner.

Consolidation

I had thought that having a second blog devoted to bicycling-related posts was a good idea (and I had a good name for it, the Random Randonneur).  The idea was to have Midwest Migrant be the general purpose blog, with a heavy photography influence, and with Random Randonneur to be a more focused enterprise.  But two blogs turns out to have been at least one blog too many.

Between the acquisition of a new dog and a work schedule that was much busier than expected, there has been a lot less time to ride and, thus, a lot less riding to blog about.  I continue to commute to work daily by bicycle, but have not been able to go on most of the "epic" rides that I had anticipated taking on this summer.  As the weather (finally) begins to cool, the riding time will diminish even more.

Given that there is not enough material (or at least inspiration) to provide posts for an entirely separate blog, the obvious choice is just to incorporate my bicycling-related posts here, along with the photography posts, life-as-a-lawyer posts and the rest of my other musings.  To that end, I have imported the handful of posts that I had made from the Random Randonneur blog to here, and have deleted the other blog from my Blogger profile.  (BTW: Kudos to Blogger on this - they really made the import seamless and simple.)

So, going forward expect to see bike-geek posts sharing space with the photography and the rest.  Among these bike-related posts will be a follow-up on my impressions of my Handsome Devil bicycle now that I have had a couple months of almost daily riding to really get a feel for it, some more write-ups on my favorite Chicagoland rides and other posts about utility bike advocacy, bike "culture," bike-related photography and whatever else springs to mind.

This is going to make the blog a true mishmash of topics, but I guess that will be a true reflection of my own odd stew of interests and amusements.  No focus, but lots of targets.

Keep the rubber down.

Tales of a Random Randonneur

"random" --  proceeding, made, or occurring without definite aim, reason,or pattern

"randonneuring" -- a type of organised long distance bicycle riding, with rides typically covering between 60 to 750 miles. A participant is known as a randonneur, and an event is a randonnée.  Randonneuring is not a competitive sport. It is a test of endurance, self-sufficiency and bicycle touring skills. All riders who complete the task are congratulated, and no prizes are given to those with the fastest times

I am going to start posting about bicycles and bike riding.  I am a big bicycle geek, but not a racer or even more than a semi-regular participant in club rides and other organized bicycle events.  While I don't object to riding with others, all my best rides have been just the bike, the road and me.


My ideal day of bicycling is a long, rambling ride - equal parts effort and exploration; with extended bursts of speed; punctuated by stops to take photographs or sip good, strong coffee at a small cafe; and a large portion of semi-aimless wandering, where I am able to take the next side road just to see what's there.  I rarely get to indulge in such rides.  The demands of work schedules, domestic obligations and my own deep laziness intrude.  Yet I continue to aspire.  I am going to begin to use this blog to explore those aspirations and, hopefully, record at least a few instances where the aspiration is realized.


I currently own two and one half bikes (the half being an almost completed work in progress), and have been hooked on bicycles from the very first time I swung a leg over and pushed off when I was eight-years old.  I have mostly been a recreation and fitness rider, but in the last couple of years have become a (mostly) daily commuter as well.  I have done a handful of organized century rides, with the longest being the Seattle to Portland (STP) ride, and have done countless extended rides allure libre.

My current (constant?) goals are to lose back a chunk of the weight I have gained in recent years and to be better about taking a camera with me (and using it) when I am out on the bike.  My new aspiration is to do some multi-day touring and perhaps a little bike-camping.

When I am out on an extended ride, I like to have a general route in mind, but then take any alternative route or side road that might look interesting.  I like to get purposefully lost.

I imagine my bicycling posts will be much like my bike trips - long, rambling, without any particular destination or purpose outside the act itself and likely much less frequent than would be the ideal.